Support to re-name the term "bratstyle"

[Nomadic]

Look, anyone who knows anything knows "Bratstyle" is a shop in Japan.

How did it come to be that any swing arm bike with a flat seat section, or dropped seat is a "brat"?
Okay, so maybe your definition of them is a variation, needing a few other details to complete the specifics, and we know they're not a "bobber" or a "chopper, tracker...so what, then it must be a brat?"

"cafe racer" is a term being thrown around way too loosely as well but it is what it is. Seems any bike with clip ons is a "cafe" to the majority especially the uninformed.

Then there's the ones who say "Actually, who gives a shit what they're called, I'm so sick of people trying to figure out what kinda bike they have,just get on it and ride." Fine, enjoy your ride.


I don't want the people of the future looking back at this era in cycling and scoffing about theses firestone laden flatseaters. Surely it's not too late for a new term to be concieved and used hereon in? I'm not saying change the bikes, no they're great, just don't call them that.


"Bratstyle" sounds plain silly. I think anything would be better. "Street runner" maybe?

How about you creatives come up with you best and offer it up. I'll start to spread the word and "bratstyle" can go back to where it came. I will start the same thread on every single internet forum that I find the B-word pops up on. And we know the power of Twitter and Fbook right!?

 

[XSLeo]

The name will change about the same time people quit putting a flat seat on a bike and calling it Bratstyle.
Like the term bobber is not what most people call a bobber. A bobber is a bike with full valanced fenders bobbed back to reduce weight. They also took off things to lighten the bike. They never cut a frame to modify it.
When you cut a frame to modify it is a chopper.
You take an XS650 and cut off the rear and weld on a hard tail is NOT a bobber, It is a chopper, you cut the frame.
On cafe's and trackers the same applies.
Just swapping a few cosmetic parts doesn't make it a café or tracker.
Most people are not smart enough to understand these things, they do amuse me.
The foolish things they do and claim it's art or what ever makes me laugh.
Changing names is not the problem educating the people is what's needed, good luck with that.
Leo

 

[plane_ben]

Yes, Bratstyle is a shop. But they are also the shop that developed this 'look' you are talking about. The 'look' caught on, now it's called Bratstyle. For me it is here to stay.

 

[GreasyC]

How many beers in when you wrote this gem?

1) this is largely a place where beginners ask questions about getting their 40 year old bike running not the hall of the motorcycle gods or something. We don't have the authority or the influence to change what the world at large calls something or affect how "history" will judge it.

2) there are so much more important things to think about.

 

[chugg]

So as not to appear stupid, I am referring to all types as motorcycles from now on.

 

[jamesgs4]

Yes, Bratstyle is a shop. But they are also the shop that developed this 'look' you are talking about. The 'look' caught on, now it's called Bratstyle. For me it is here to stay.

yeah, but 9 out of 10 bikes called bratstyle style don't even come close to the look.

 

[Kinsygrl]

Here's my silly input....I read somewhere sometime ago that the term bobber fefered to the slight bob you get from the spring seats. I bought it

 

[Gene]

yeah, but 9 out of 10 bikes called bratstyle style don't even come close to the look.

Even on bratstyle.com the bikes vary from new seat rails & tanks, to a flat seat and stock tank. So basically, it's a "not stock" look

 

[Soliddrummer]

I must admit, I'm in the, "who gives a s*it what it's called" category. Call it whatever you want, just build it correctly, and safely. There is no accounting for taste anyways, I find most other people's bikes to be ugly as hell, and I imagine most people would find my bike ugly as hell.....so, do your own thing, call it what you like, and smile while you tear ass down the road on the _______insert bike name here_______ that you built!

 

[Sn34ky]

I called mine: The bratter chopper bobber scoot!

How do you call a Swedish Style Chopper? A Denver Mullinser?

I really don't care about this, even bobber or chopper are just words used to be cool when you try to explain to ignorants that it is not because it's not written Harley on it, that it's not a motorcycle!

 

[Dieselchanic]

I'm building a brat bike. I've known of 'Bratstyle' and the controversy over people calling their bikes that when its actually a shop. However, as has been said, they created the look and thus the name. I will not call then bratstyle. I do refer to them as 'brat' bikes tho. I really don't care what it is but usually somewhere on a thread someone will insist on knowing what 'type' of bike you're building and since this is the most broadly recognized term I use it. Quite loosely...

Most of the bikes we build would actually be 'short chops'. Which is a bike with modified frame and stock rake. A chopper is modified frame and rake. A bobber is stock frame bobbed to be lighter and/or faster.

And every bit of that is controversial.

 

[SPUd]

Who gives a crap really?

A 'style' is only a word used to give context and description to an object when trying to explain it to another person.

Brat makes sense, everyone knows what it means, job done.

 

[mrkil]

I'm with spud

Do you ask for a kleenex to blow your nose or a tissue? Because kleenex is a brand name. You better start askin for tissues

 

[wherearewe]

This field has been ploughed.

Bratstyle is fine for me. Most people understand it to mean 'chopped with springs'. Since no hardtails can be imported into japan, that's pretty much the common feature of all their builds. Also since the bikes we love come from Japan, I think it's appropriate that a Japanese style gets some recognition.
So if you've built a chopper with rear suspension, Bratstyle is an appropriate term, if you want to use it. People will know what you mean.

But really who cares.

 

[DIRTY DOG]

here's my .02 most bobbers were hardtail's when they started bobbing bikes way back when. also found this.History[edit source | editbeta]

The bobber was the earliest simple and stripped down custom motorcycle hand-built by individuals with mechanical skills, and was often part of the early biker clubs scene before there were any such things as choppers.[2] This style of custom motorcycle, which took shape in the 1940s and 50s,[3] is generally thought to have been started by returning WWII American servicemen working on ex-military motorcycles, and inspired by lighter European motorcycles they had seen and ridden.[4] When bobbers were first created, the intent was not to create a new type of motorcycle or sub-genre, the idea was to keep motorcycles on the road for as cheaply as possible.[5][better source needed]
The bikes reflected their owners and were often homemade.[6] Today there are many companies that create such vehicles.[2] The style has also influenced motorcycle manufacturers, such as Harley-Davidson.[7]
The bobber continues to be favored by some to this day. Hybrid styles have emerged, such as the "bobber chopper," and "retro-bobber."[2][4]Though only a bobber in name, newer bobbers are more about independence and customization than simply being constructed cheaply.[8][better source needed]
Bobbers vs. choppers[edit source | editbeta]

Bobbers are related to choppers in that they represent a minimalistic approach where the motorcycle is stripped of parts or accessories not needed but bobbers generally retain the characteristics of the stock frame.[9]
The principal difference between a bobber and chopper is that bobbers are typically built around unmodified frames. Chopper frames are often cut and welded into shape. Bobbers also often lack most of the chopper's aesthetic characteristics such as chromed parts and elongated forks. Thus, bobbers are fairly easy to create from stock motorcycles and are generally hand built.
The term chopper started to be used from the late 1960s onwards, for motorcycles whose frames had been customized to have a greater angle at which the front suspension protruded, with smaller fuel tanks and tall handlebars called ape hangers.[2] For many owners, the difference between bobbers and choppers doesn't come down to what's on the motorcycle but what isn't on it and whether it has a short front end or a long front end, stretched suspension defining it as a chopper.[10][11]
While customized motorcycles can be expensive, bobber builders tend to adopt an economical approach involving old, second hand, recycled parts and hand machined items redolent of the period before the mass-market motorcycle accessory industry had developed

 

[RockingThePartyDJ]

it's a name, like it or deal with it. LOL

or come up with a new style you can name.

I checked out the Bratstyle website and if you havn't you should. I perused the pictures of their bike builds and they seem to do more than what we consider a brat, i saw Brats, bobbers, brat choppers & cafe ish type bikes.
I saw some great inspiration.

Oh yeah, Dirty Dog thanks for the definitions.
.

 

[Lester]

Who gives a crap really?

A 'style' is only a word used to give context and description to an object when trying to explain it to another person.

Brat makes sense, everyone knows what it means, job done.

DITTO !

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

When I first heard the term 'brat', I thought it was a description of the owner, or the sound it makes.

Reminds me of modern art, the artist slops paint on a canvas, then later at the art gallery the critics hover and describe the nuances using vague and eclectic terms.

I'm still trying to figure out '23 skiddo'

You humans are such an interesting lot.

I am just an observer, must report to the mother ship now...

 

[xjwmx]

A shop in Japan, eh? Then the correct pronunciation is "Bratstire".

TwoMany, the essence of art is accidental. But not everything accidental is art.

 

[Tomterrific]

Bratstyle changed to Bruised Tailbone Style?

In my eyes, most people change the XS into something that looks worse than the stock roadster style. Very few here get it but a Norton Commando is about the best looking of the old styled roadsters. Very long pipes, the insturments low, narrow rounded full cover fenders, all the angles are just right.

http://coloradonortonworks.com/about-us/photo-gallery/?nggpage=2

Tom